Prisoner turned influencer teams up with Dudley youth centre to use music to mentor at-risk teens
A rapper who spent 10 years in prison is using music at a Dudley youth centre to discourage young people from making the same mistakes he did.
RA (Real Artillery) spent his young adult life in 13 different prisons, but said he always wanted to give back when he got out ‘to show young people the right way to live'.
The 39-year-old, who is also an actor, film director and influencer, is now working on a music project with the Community Skills and Knowledge Network (CSKN).
It specialises in mentoring young people across the Black County who face serious challenges such as involvement in gangs, disengagement from school, or difficult family circumstances, often using relatable role models with similar lived experiences.
The three-week music project at the Meadow Road Youth Centre in Dudley has been funded with a £12,000 grant from the West Midlands Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP), as part of its My Tomorrow campaign, which is empowering young people to shape their own futures.
Some of the young people who have been attending the group, held during the summer holidays, have been referred by those in the VRP’s network including the police, social services or youth justice services.
RA said: “I always said when I come out of prison I wanted to give back and show them the right way to live and they will listen to someone like me, because I’ve been through it and I’m in the industry.
“It feels good that they’re using music to express themselves and then speaking to me, because when I was that young if I had someone like me that I could go to and say certain things to, it might have helped me sway a different way in life.
“I think sometimes the Government is sponsoring things that the kids don’t want to go to, but with something like this they are on us to come. They are ringing us up.”
The CSKN said youth workers are always on hand to work with young people during the sessions, which will run until the end of August.
The young people also have a free dinner at the youth club and learn how to monetise the songs they produce by creating an online fanbase.
Chris Clacken, one of the mentors on the project, said that making and recording tracks has been a useful way to build relationships with young people who are unlikely to engage with more conventional support.
He said: “So often young people find it hard to have a conversation with a professional or a trusted adult about how they are feeling and what’s going on with them.
“We put some music to it, and they will rap about it. We’ll talk about the track, we will try to unpick the track, talk about some of the issues going on.
"That forms a bond between us and the young person and we can start to mentor and to deal with some of the issues they are dealing with.”
Seventeen-year-old Zaidaan Abdin, from Dudley, has been attending the group and said he recorded his original song ‘Went Legit’ to tell the story of his life.
He said: “It is from personal things, what’s happened in my life, things that I’ve overcome, because I grew up in a rough area so I’m just trying to make it out.
“Everyone enjoys it here. It’s different and in here everyone is cool with each other.
"It obviously helps young people get off the streets and it helps people show their talent in music and so I just came to showcase my talent.”
The project is among five in Dudley which received a share of £25,000 of annual funding from the VRP, for activities and programmes which support at-risk young people during the six-week summer holidays.
Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Coventry and Solihull also received £25,000 each from the VRP for violence prevention work during the summer break.
Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands, Simon Foster, who chairs the West Midlands VRP (VRP) Strategic Board, said: “I am pleased to see the VRP investing in this project, which is aimed at young people who face significant barriers when it comes to accessing support services and mentors they feel they can trust.”
“Music is just one way VRP-funded projects are engaging and supporting children and young people across the region, with big investments in sports programmes, youth hubs and detached youth work over the summer holidays.”
